The image sensor of Patent Literature 1 functions to serve as a global (all-pixel simultaneous) electronic shutter and eliminate reset noise. The image sensor having the all-pixel simultaneous electronic shutter function uses a CCD structure in a part thereof. It also provides a low dark current by using an embedded CMOS capacitor in order to hold charges.
Patent Literatures 2 and 3 disclose CMOS image sensors. These image sensors use an embedded storage diode in order to hold charges without using the CCD structure. In such a CMOS image sensor, charges are shared between two diodes, i.e., a photodiode and a storage diode, by controlling a shutter gate. Sharing the charges provides an electronic shutter operation by using an action in which a part of the charges generated in the photodiode migrate to the storage diode. A pixel for a CMOS image sensor disclosed in Patent Literature 4 has a photodetector region arranged symmetrically about its center.
A MOS image sensor disclosed in Non Patent Literature 1 performs synthesis within a pixel, so as to achieve a piecewise linear wide dynamic range. A MOS image sensor in Non Patent Literature 2 attains a wide dynamic range by combining linear and logarithmic responses.